Favorite reads of 2011

2011 is almost over, which means it's time for "The Best/Top/Favorite _____ of 2011" lists! Here's my contribution: the best books I read in 2011.

1. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
   
2. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
   
3. Feed - Mira Grant
   
4. Unwind - Neal Shusterman
   
5. MockingJay - Suzanne Collins
   
6. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
   
7. John Dies at the End - David Wong
   
8. Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
   
9. Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski
   
10. The Scorch Trials - James Dashner

Given how much I've raved about The Hunger Games, it's no surprise that the trilogy took three of the top five positions, including #1. The Hunger Games was the best book I've read in a few years.

Thanks to The Hunger Games trilogy, I also discovered the Young Adult Dystopian genre this year. Unwind and The Scorch Trials are both YA Dystopian stories, and Feed could be considered one too, although it's more of a zombie novel.

Absent from my Top 10 list are any books by indie authors. Indie books made up less than ten of the 70 or so books I read in 2011. While I did read a couple of good ones, none were among the ten best. I expect to read more indie books in 2012, and perhaps one or more will make my list next year.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Busy with author-y stuff

If there's one lesson that I've learned in the past month, since the publication of George and the Galactic Games, it's that writing is only one part of a "real" author's job. It's still the most important part, but once you've written and published your book, you still need to put it in front of readers. In other words, authors should not rely on "build it and they will come." No one will read your book if no one knows about it.

To address that, I've been busy with non-writing tasks, such as:

1. Making George and the Galactic Games available in different formats
2. Creating author pages on Amazon, Goodreads, and Smashwords
3. Setting up a Twitter account
4. Visiting other sites that can help increase exposure through book reviews, interviews, or giveaways

It's too early to tell if my efforts will pay off, but I know that I'm better off now than if I never did any of the items listed above.

George and the Galactic Games part of YA book giveaway

You can win a copy of George and the Galactic Games along with other YA books at the BIG AWESOME YA GIVEAWAY! Three lucky winners will win a package of TEN ebooks, and a fourth winner will win a print package of NINE books. It's easy to enter, and the contest ends on Tuesday, December 20. Good luck!

George and the Galactic Games available in other formats

For those of you who don't have a Kindle or the Kindle app, I'm happy to announce that George and the Galactic Games is available in other formats!

Electronically, the book is available from these vendors:

• Barnes & Noble's Nook
• Diesel
• Kobo

Last but definitely not least, I'm also excited to say that the book is available in print format for those who prefer to read from paper instead of electronically at this Createspace link.

New cover for George and the Galactic Games

The Kindle eBook for George and the Galactic Games has a new cover now. I wasn't that pleased with the original cover, and I hope the new one will be a little better. What do you all think?

Almost 1 million eBooks in Kindle Store!

According to a Techcrunch article, Amazon has nearly 1 million eBooks in the Kindle Store now! The actual number is a little less, but it's just a matter of time before they go over the 1 million mark. According to the same article, eBook sales are expected to grow from $3.2 billion this year to $9.7 billion in 2016. I guess I should be happy when my book has a 5-digit ranking in the Kindle Store -- it means it's selling better than 90% of all eBooks!